Improvement in cottom-psgkers



NITED- Simfree- W. D. LUDLOW, or nnwlronk, u. Y..

IMPROVEMENT IN oor'rl'onirickeae.

Specification formingpart of Letters Patent No. 52,393, dated January 30, 1866.

" To all-'whom it may concerm' Be it known that I, WILLIAM D. LUDLoW, 'of the city, county, and State of-New York, have invented a new' and useful Improvementiu Machinery for Picking Cotton from the Boll l in the Field; and I d'o'hereby declare'the folowiug to be a clear, full, and exact descriptiony -of the same,.reference being had to the .accom-4 panying drawings, making a part of 'this specification, 'in which- Figure 1 represents the complete machine, und Fig. 2 represents a top view of the picking-gate or sliding lingers.. Fig. 3 is a top View of the lower stripper, J. Fig. 4 is a top View oi' they upper stripper, K.

The natureofthe invention and its peculiar advantages will bereadily understood from the following description.

-A is the case, with a fraction of one side cut out'to show the Works, mede otwood, tin, zincfsheet-iron, or any other suitable iuate` rial, provided with a strap, B,'by which itis suspended from the shoulder .under the left arm'otf the operator, anda handle, C, by which it is held firmly and guided from boli to boli in picking.

` -Illis1-he pickin gfgate or sliding ngers which pluck4 the cotton from the boil when operated.

E is a guard or protection for theingers U.. F isa track or slide on which the picker D is held steady as it is drawn in and passes out.'` G is a wire vby which the pieken- Dis vpulled forward onjthe slide or track F.

B is aknob oi' handle attachedv to wireGf. .I is a slot in thofra'me or case A, in which E slides; J-is the lower stripper; K, the upper stripper, 'by which all the cotton is taken from (the vpicker and prevented from being carried outagain'after it has been drawn forward into the case A Sis a. springbehind stripper-'6.124. I Lfisa spiral spring to carry the pickinggatc 'or lingersv 'D `back to the gua-rd E after the. cottoi'ijisdischarged inside A.the strippers Jana K.

4 M1 is aboli ofcottoninfposition. ready to be f picked as tlieknob His drawnbackto point XlA 0 is the'cottonaitlf it is draWn-.intcftlie .case and discharged .-b'ehind the'strippers J and. K. j

Zarateor together.

. '-.Wnnessesi P is' a fraction ofthe,bag-ettgehed-p thei. case A,into which the-cotton vis discharged' The case A is' two inches square and about thirty inches long, which is about the diameter ot' an ordinary cotton tree or bush, so that the operator, without changing his position,

muy reach any particil vthe'bushl and pick the numerous bolls, or in casetheb'ush islowor very high, both of Awhich are often the case, everyrb'oll may be reached by the machine l without the operator leborionsly reaching upward or stooping'down.

Cotton pickedvby hand is much'injureu by the crushing; of boli upon bell in the hand be.- fore itis discharged into .the bag. d-.f.hen when separating; 'the cotton from the seed by the gin the .ber is inne-ii torn endbroken and the staple seriouslyinjnred; wherezisthis machine picks it nicely from the stalk-end discharges each tutt earcful'ljtI in the cese, through which it is gently forced. along the case into the bag, Where iii-lies lightly and as perfect and nncrushed aswhen itday inthe bollen the tree. Itis not absoiutely essential that the picker D slide on a way-theseme result may be ci tained "in an inferior manner with a swinging; pickinggatemnor that so many teeth or tin;` gersbejemployed on either of thestrippers, or

the picker-gate or comb.

It is proven by actual test thatthis machine' will do the work ot' ve men, do it better, and sare thecotton in e cleaner Aend more desirabiecondition. v

WhatA I claiinas new, and desire to procure by Letters Patent., isv 1. The employment or use for picking col. ton fromv the boils inthe eld of the Tease A; picking gate, comlnor ngers D., and strippers Jnnd. K, c'oinlrlned and operating substantial'lyas described.

2. The sliding picker-gate, comb,.or lingers D, asifset forth.

3. The strippersJ nud K, 'as set forth, sep- WM. n. Lennon?. I [1..

-. "nAUsrIN Sngern, lL-E. Gear.. 

